Random Gaming Thoughts

[RyaNtheSlayA]

There's a lot going on in the world surrounding gaming right now. I think this is a good thing. I think we do need to have discussions about the representation of woman and LGBT communities in games. I think we need to discuss the depictions of violence we're exposed to through games, and other various tropes. It's all good and they're all discussions worth having. Games as an artistic medium are definitely still in their teen years, trying to find where they belong in our culture and maturing at a rapid rate whilst also making plenty of mistakes in the process.

That said, I don't want to discuss it all the time. Maybe it's simply just the nature of the hobby now but I feel like I can't go to a single gaming related website or community without these discussions going on. I kind of just want to read about and play some games.

[Exhuminator]

I feel like I can't go to a single gaming related website or community without these discussions going on. I kind of just want to read about and play some games.

In my experience Racketboy is the last bastion for this. Every other gaming forum I used to frequent went crazy with the "cultural angles" of gaming in the past few years. Especially last year the hashtag reference that shall not be mentioned. I used to frequent about five forums, but now I'm down to just Racketboy. At least here people actually want to talk about the gaming aspect of games fairly often, and above all else CAN TAKE A DAMN JOKE without inciting a mod addled shitshow. I wish this forum was a little more active sometimes, but then again having fewer active members may be the key to its success.

[FerretGamer]

I feel like I can't go to a single gaming related website or community without these discussions going on. I kind of just want to read about and play some games.

In my experience Racketboy is the last bastion for this. Every other gaming forum I used to frequent went crazy with the "cultural angles" of gaming in the past few years. Especially last year the hashtag reference that shall not be mentioned. I used to frequent about five forums, but now I'm down to just Racketboy. At least here people actually want to talk about the gaming aspect of games fairly often, and above all else CAN TAKE A DAMN JOKE without inciting a mod addled shitshow. I wish this forum was a little more active sometimes, but then again having fewer active members may be the key to its success.

This is pretty much the only forum that I actively post on and love it. The other ones are relegated to selective reading, which allows me to avoid a lot of the drama.

[Erik_Twice]

I feel like maybe I'm not explaining what I'm looking for right. OR, it's possible that I just don't know what I'm talking about, haha.

I think it's not so much that as you not quite telling the forest by the trees. Roleplaying is not the adventure in the book, the combat mechanics or the dice rolls but the impromptu acting that is made easier with those things.

I looked around for a good example of play and found this one, check it out:

[J T]

I feel like a well done metroidvania shouldn't have to have you backtracking too much. Clever map design should avoid that.

anyways ya'll can blame Cave Story for this probably

I did enjoy Cave Story. Actually, traditionally I have loved Metroidvania gameplay and Metroid (NES) ranks among my favorite games of all time, but right now I am playing Shantae: Risky's Revenge and I like everything about the game except the backtracking. It's really poorly implemented in this game, but it's making me question the whole metroidvania genre. Was I more patient about this sort of stuff in the past, or was it just designed to be more enjoyable? It makes the world feel more like it exists if you can go back to places you were before, and there is something enjoyable about opening up an area with a new weapon/item that you didn't have before, but I also want my games to continue to show me new things and I get bored if I'm running over the same terrain again and again.

[Exhuminator]

Was I more patient about this sort of stuff in the past, or was it just designed to be more enjoyable?

A well designed metroivania game makes its backtracking feel beneficial and rewarding as you do. It's inevitable that some designers will pull this off with aplomb and others won't. For example the good Castlevania games in this vein offer additional rewards to find in a continuous fashion as you backtrack to open up new areas. But if anybody wants to see how not to do it, give Monster Tale a full playthrough. Worst backtracking ever in that one.

[prfsnl_gmr]

But if anybody wants to see how not to do it, give Monster Tale a full playthrough. Worst backtracking ever in that one.

Monster Tale is a game I enjoyed, but I agree that the backtracking was not well-implemented. (I actually think that the worst backtracking of all time appears towards the end of Paper Mario: TTYD.)

Monster Tale had an interesting mechanics and plenty of charm, but I think I would hold it in higher regard if: (1) it had been more difficult; and (2) it had been two or three times longer. I do not usually write this, but the game simply was not large enough to reach its potential.

[Exhuminator]

I'm not saying it wasn't a decent game, it had its charms. But the developers were clueless about the backtracking implementation.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I'm not saying it wasn't a decent game, it had its charms. But the developers were clueless about the backtracking implementation.

Agreed. The backtracking in Monster Tale (and, IMO, Mega Man Zero) is just a really tedious stage-select screen.

[nullPointer]

A well designed metroivania game makes its backtracking feel beneficial and rewarding as you do. It's inevitable that some designers will pull this off with aplomb and others won't. For example the good Castlevania games in this vein offer additional rewards to find in a continuous fashion as you backtrack to open up new areas.

I would agree with this completely. I feel like Castlevania: SOTN executes this perfectly insofar as non-tedious backtracking (although naturally teleports help quite a bit in this capacity). And just at the point in the game where the backtracking has started to feel a bit repetitive ..

it turns everything upside down, making what was old new again